immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Innosuisse

  • Swarms of drones measure traffic

    Swarms of drones measure traffic

    A team led by Professor Nikolas Geroliminis, head of the Laboratory for Urban Transport Systems ( LUTS ) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne , is measuring traffic with unprecedented accuracy. It uses swarms of drones to do this. It converts the video images into algorithms and analyzes the data. “Our goal is not to monitor traffic, but to find the causes of traffic jams and offer fact-based solutions,” postdoc Manos Barmpounakis is quoted as saying in a statement .

    The LUTS tested its multidisciplinary approach in 2018 and 2019. Last summer it was tested in the monitoring and evaluation of parking areas in the port of Pully VD. In mid-May 2022, a new experiment was conducted in Nairobi, the city ranked 4th in the world in terms of congestion. It turned out that cultural peculiarities such as the minibuses called Matatus, “which drop off and pick up passengers as required in an indescribable traffic chaos” also have to be taken into account. Traditional modeling approaches are not directly applicable to this.

    For further experiments, the laboratory received a grant from the innovation agency Innosuisse . This technology, called CityDronics, is to be further developed into a marketable solution by a start-up based in Switzerland. It will be the first to integrate drones into urban mobility. With multi-sensors, the drones could also measure exposure to CO2 and noise. Several cities are already interested in CityDronics.

  • OST wants to trigger a wave of renovations

    OST wants to trigger a wave of renovations

    A so-called flagship initiative by Innosuisse wants to drastically increase the quota for the energy modernization of buildings. The Institute for Solar Technology of the OST – Ostschweizer Fachhochschule is leading this project called Renowave from 2022 to 2025 together with the University of Geneva . In a media release , the OST talks about wanting to trigger a renovation wave for energy-efficient renovations with a total of 16 research and 46 implementation partners as well as with the authorities. Around 7.5 million francs are earmarked for financing this project.

    The background to this is that the energetic refurbishment of buildings is a central pillar of the national climate strategy. However, because only 1 percent of the old stock is currently being modernized each year, the energy transition would only be achievable in 2120 instead of 2050 as planned, the OST calculates.

    Until now, individual disciplines have carried out relatively small and independent studies on the subject of building modernization, according to Renowave general manager Igor Bosshard. "When this project is completed in 2025, authorities, industry and research should be able to apply and implement the results of the project, such as new technologies, financing models or adjustments to building regulations, in a targeted manner and in the knowledge of the needs of everyone involved, from the client to the tenant."

    The 62 partner organizations of Renowave include cantons, cities and the Federal Office for Housing as well as the trade association swisscleantech , construction service provider Implenia , Raiffeisen Switzerland , PostFinance and the Swiss Tenants ' Association .

  • Switzerland has great potential for geothermal energy

    Switzerland has great potential for geothermal energy

    Switzerland has considerable potential in the use of alternative energy sources such as geothermal energy and in the underground storage of CO2. This emerges from a press release from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne ( EPFL ). Professor Lyesse Laloui from the Faculty of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering ( ENAC ) at EPFL was head of the research group on geoenergy as part of the Innosuisse Energy funding program, which ran from 2013 to 2020. Eight competence centers have been set up. EPFL played a leading role in the field of geoenergy. Laloui is the author of the chapter on this in the final report of Innosuisse.

    Lyesse Laloui sees great potential for the use of geothermal energy. The Swiss government has set the target for 2035 of generating 11 percent of the energy used for heating and cooling buildings from geothermal energy. Laloui assumes over 20 percent. “The project results show that this share could easily be doubled,” he is quoted in the communication. The possibilities of using geothermal energy to generate electricity were also examined. Laloui points out problems such as drilling deep without triggering seismic movements. “One day we will surely make it, but we are not there yet.”

    According to the Lalouis report, there are good opportunities for the underground storage of CO2 emissions in Switzerland, especially in the Central Plateau from Friborg to Zurich. Professor Laloui is quoted as saying that of the around 40 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent that are emitted in Switzerland every year, around 12 million could be stored underground.

  • Innosuisse aims to promote high-risk projects with a lot of potential

    Innosuisse aims to promote high-risk projects with a lot of potential

    The federal government has set the strategic goals for Innosuisse for the years 2021 to 2024. According to a media release , he expects the agency to focus on projects with a higher risk and "above-average economic potential". The selection should be made after “careful consideration” of the projects.

    Innosuisse should also focus on thematic tenders. The aim is to ensure that innovation topics of "great and cross-sectoral importance" are taken up. This includes the federal government, for example, key issues of digitization as well as challenges in connection with sustainability or coping with the corona pandemic.

    Innosuisse should also ensure that SMEs have easy access to the services of research institutions. The agency should attach great importance to young companies that come from the university environment.

    Innosuisse will also be commissioned to implement the Swiss Innovation Power Initiative in 2021 and 2022. The program is intended to help companies maintain their innovation activities despite the recession phase. This is not only in the interests of companies, but also important for the competitiveness of Switzerland as a business location.

    Innosuisse is a federal institution under public law with its own legal personality. Through the agency, the federal government promotes science-based innovation in Switzerland.

  • Innosuisse promotes Blackstone Resources

    Innosuisse promotes Blackstone Resources

    The Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse will subsidize the development project of Blackstone Resources AG , which is estimated at 1.3 million francs. She has promised a grant of 50 percent. According to a media release from Blackstone Resources, this commitment will help finance the development of solid-state electrolytes and a “sophisticated” production simulation of 3D-printed solid-state batteries.

    The Baar-based company relies on lithium-ion batteries with solid-state electrolytes. Their industrial production is based on Blackstone's own 3D printing process, the press release said. A research consortium consisting of Blackstone Resources, the Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt ( Empa ) and the Bern University of Applied Sciences will upscale the synthesis of solid-state electrolytes developed by Empa.

    Because the electrolyte, i.e. the conductive part of the battery, is solid, solid-state batteries have several advantages: They are non-flammable and cannot leak. They manage without cooling, which increases their energy density and thus their storage capacity. And theoretically they can be loaded faster. Car manufacturers in particular are hoping for them because they could solve the range problem of electric cars.

    Against this background, Blackstone Resources AG sees “solid electrolytes as a key component for the next generation of battery technology” and will produce this technology “independently” in the future.

  • Energy Lab aims to deliver innovations for the energy transition

    Energy Lab aims to deliver innovations for the energy transition

    The NTN Innovation Booster Energy Lab will officially start its work in January 2021. However, such a dynamic has already emerged that the first of a total of 50 planned projects have already been launched, writes the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences in a media release . They should lead to innovations in the efficient generation, storage and use of renewable energies that are also marketable.

    The consortium of over 200 members is strategically managed by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In addition to the Central Switzerland Innovation Park and NEST – the research and innovation platform of the Federal Materials Testing and Research Institute and the water research institute of the ETH Domain – numerous other institutions, all Swiss universities of applied sciences and ETH Zurich . The Energy Lab is being funded by the Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse with CHF 1.5 million for an initial period of four years.

    More than 200 companies are already connected via the Central Switzerland Innovation Park, "and the trend is increasing", the message goes on to say: "Because the Energy Lab is an open network in which interested parties can contribute at any time."

    "The challenges are so complex that they can no longer be resolved with individual measures, but only in large-scale cooperation between industry, politics, science and society," the project manager and professor at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, Ludger Fischer, is quoted in the communication . "The solutions will offer concrete added value for the economy and can therefore be implemented!"

  • Algorithms help manage power loads

    Algorithms help manage power loads

    The simultaneous activation of many electrical devices creates enormous network loads. Since up to 60 percent of the grid usage costs for the energy supply companies are calculated from these load peaks, they have a vital interest in avoiding or at least smoothing them out as far as possible. The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts ( HSLU ) has now found a solution together with partners, according to a press release.

    What is needed is “an intelligent and efficient energy and load management, with the help of which energy can be shifted”, Andrew Paice is quoted in this communication . He is the head of the HSLU Building Intelligence Research Center called iHomeLab . His team developed the prototype of such a system together with the HSLU Competence Center for Thermal Energy Storage, the Vilters-Wangs electricity company and business partners Asgal Informatik and Semax . The Swiss Agency for Innovation Promotion Innosuisse supports the project.

    The artificial intelligence developed by the teams and its algorithms use the data from intelligent electricity reading devices, so-called smart meters. The researchers used it to calculate thermal models of buildings. The algorithms “identify power-consuming devices such as heat pumps, boilers or e-mobiles and power-producing devices such as photovoltaic systems,” explains Paice. Then maximum power consumption, switch-on and switch-off times and energy consumption per day are combined with temperature and weather forecasts. This enabled precise predictions to be made.

    With these project results, the two companies involved in the project could now offer energy suppliers a service that would help them save costs – without the need for additional investments in their distribution networks.